Transcript

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>> Companies worried about avoiding President Trump's wrath unfurling a new strategy in his first weeks in office, let him take credit for new jobs they were going to add either way. I'm Andy Sullivan in Washington. Multinationals now seeing President Trump's jobs push as the perfect opportunity to play up their own expansion plans.

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Why put out a press release, when you can make your announcement on live television with the President of the United States at your side? It's a win for everybody. Trump gets to show he's a job creating president, companies get a free splash of publicity for plans that they had hatched long before he took office.

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>> This factory will produce, as I said, the most powerful computer chips on the planet.>> Intel Corporation, the latest to pursue this strategy. CEO Brian Krzanich using the Oval Office as the backdrop to announce it was reopening an Arizona factory that will ultimately employ 3,000 people. It's not the first time the chip maker harnessed the prestige of the White House for its own ends.

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The company first announced it would open the factory back in 2011 alongside then president, Barack Obama, before it paused construction in 2014. That didn't seem to bother investors, who pushed the stock higher on the news. Krzanich telling reporters he made the announcement as a sign of support for Trump's plan to cut taxes and slash regulations.

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Intel's not alone. Since December, blue chip employers like General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Walmart, IBM, and Foxconn have repackaged existing expansion plans so Trump can take credit. Executives of Bayer and Monsanto who are seeking approval for their $57 billion merger said after a meeting with Trump that they wold spend $8 billion on research and development in the United States.

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White House spokesman Sean Spicer saying that would come out to at least 3,000 new jobs. This has major firms live in fear of a sudden White House tweet that can send their shares tumbling. Intel and other companies don't seem to mind the optics of being shamed into action.

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After all, it gets them on the President's good side ahead of what are sure to be divisive battles in the months to come over trade and tax policy. Plus it provides a sort of free media coverage, that otherwise would cost them millions of promotional dollars.>> We'll see what happens, I think he's doing very well.